2024 Sri Lankan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 September 2024. Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe ran for re-election as an independent candidate, making him the first sitting president to run for re-election since Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Other prominent candidates included Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the NPP, and Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The election was a three-way contest between Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake. For the first time in a Sri Lankan presidential election, no candidate received a majority of the vote. Dissanayake was in first place with 42%, followed by Premadasa with 33%. Incumbent president Wickremesinghe finished third, receiving only 17% of the vote. As no candidate received a majority, second preference votes were counted. The following day, Dissanayake was declared the winner with 56% of the vote after second preferences had been taken into account. He was inaugurated on 23 September.

The election signified a major political realignment in Sri Lanka. Dissanayake's victory was the first time a third-party candidate was elected president. This was also the first election where neither of the top two candidates were endorsed by the United National Party or the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.